The Blue Light of the Flame
by crayonboxromance
Summary: It isn't until Spencer Reid has surgery to remove his brain tumors that the members of the BAU meet his superbly hidden girlfriend.
1. Comfort

_I LOVE SPENCER REID.  
>That is all I had to say.<br>And then I heard this song in the episode called **The Boogeyman** and I literally had to write a story that had some relation to it._

_It's called Blue Light of the Flame by Dar Williams.  
>Check it :)<em>

_Hope you enjoy this little two-shot!_

* * *

><p>The girlfriend of Spencer Reid sat outside her other half's operating room staring blindly at the wall. She had been staring at it for so long that the sterile white was turning in to neon moving spots. She hadn't even moved her eyes from the wall when Morgan had asked who she was but merely let out a small whimper. It was like her entire being had shut down the moment the surgeon had told her that there had been… <em>complications<em> during surgery and that he'd have to have another one quickly.

"He'll be alright." Morgan's deep voice finally broke through her quietly panicked reverie. With wild eyes she gulped and turned towards him with a broken smile.

"Just keep him away from the blue flame." She muttered cryptically, patting the hand that Morgan had gently placed on his shoulder. He was aware that she hadn't actually been talking to him but some other Supreme Being, God or something. Morgan didn't know what she meant by the blue flame but from her quaking voice he suspected it wasn't anything pleasant. They sat together in a moment's silence not quite knowing what to say to one another. She knew how Morgan and Reid cared for each other; Morgan was the best friend and big brother. However, no one in the BAU knew who she was and that made her feel slightly awkward even in this overwhelmingly depressing situation. Morgan, not knowing what else to say reiterated his previous question,

"So what's your name?"

"I'm Reid's girlfriend." This seemed to the most important thing to say right now. She didn't miss the cocked eyebrow of surprise, "my name's Nora." She had a soft voice and a sweet if sad smile. Morgan could see why Reid was drawn to the apparently introverted woman, "and Reid and I met in the foreign language bookstore I own."

* * *

><p><em>The old bookshop was full of towering stacks of precariously placed books, old and dusty. Well-thumbed and loved, Nora would say, caressing the books like she would a lover, if someone ever complained. There was a sofa, almost sterile in comparison to the shop itself, tucked away in the corner. The newer reads were near the front, the university references used mainly by the students of the various universities in the area were near the middle and the old, well-loved books were haphazardly placed in the back. This was where Nora Jackson found Spencer Reid, curled up on the sofa, eagerly pouring over a copy of <em>_**The Curse of Agade**__ in the original language._

"_That's the ancient Sumerian cuneiform! You can read that?" Nora had exclaimed loudly in disbelief, almost making a stack of books fall over. She'd only gotten one copy of that in thinking it was beautiful to look at but no one would ever be able to read it. Until today. Until Spencer Reid. He looked up with his fearful puppy like eyes, wondering if she were teasing or genuinely impressed._

"_Yes?"_

"_Teach me."_

_And thus their relationship had begun. Reid would come by every time he didn't have a case and teach cuneiform to her just happy to find someone who would willingly listen to all of the information he had to offer, which was a lot of information. Nora gradually grew to see Reid as someone more than a teacher but was too shy to ask him out. Instead she patiently waited until he realised the look in her eye was more than impressed but complete captivation. It wasn't until Halloween when all of the BAU staff had turned down his spare ticket to a re-enactment of Phantasmagoria and they'd been discussing science magic that Reid finally asked her out on a date._

* * *

><p>"You actually went to that?" Garcia couldn't stop the surprise in her voice that people other than Spencer enjoyed weird Halloween nerd stuff. Garcia had joined in the conversation the moment she realised who Nora was. Nora smiled again but this time a little wider. It felt so good to finally be able to confess to people about their relationship. She only had a couple of friends and they hadn't met him as she refused for them to meet him if she couldn't meet his friends.<p>

"It was so amazing! I had the best time!" There was an amused but tiny spark in her eyes when she continued with, "of course he didn't quite realise that I thought it was a date until I told him that I'd enjoyed our date." Morgan and Garcia shared a look that clearly stated that they could believe this.

"So tell me Gossip Girl," the eccentric technical analyst scuttled a little closer to the shy woman, completely ignoring all personal boundaries, "what's Boy Wonder like?" This seemed to catch Prentiss and JJ's attention, both of whom had been trying to keep their noses politely out of Nora's business. However the idea that Reid actually had _sex_ with someone was enough to make them curious. They'd been working together for years and never had there been even a whiff of a date apart from that bartender and Lila Archer.

"Like?" Unfortunately the question wasn't quite as clear as Nora needed.

"Yeah you know. Sex wise." And with this Morgan left only to have his place immediately filled by Emily and JJ. They both leaned in, kind of amused that a blush crawled over Nora's cheeks and she glanced downwards. All three could see the innocent draw Nora possessed until her eyes once again lit with mischief as she replied with,

"I'm going to say that Boy Wonder is the appropriate term." And she winked. Garcia gave out a pleased whistle, JJ raised her eyebrows and Emily merely chuckled. Garcia prompted her to say more and once the coast was clear of the prying ears of Hotch, Morgan and Rossi Nora said, "I can't explain things very well so I'm not going to go into great detail until I know you better. The only way I can describe is it's like we set the world on fire and there's nothing but ash and smoke afterwards."

"That's enough detail." JJ interrupted with a disgusted face at the thought of her little brother figure and Godfather to Henry having sex, especially like that. Emily blinked and smiled a lazy, impressed smile. Garcia let out another low whistle before fanning herself. Morgan gave a mental high five to the doctor currently getting operated on.

"That's not the blue flame?"

The smile that had been building over the past ten minutes quickly faded along with the colour in her skin. Nora gulped, lowered her eyelids once more and shook her head.

* * *

><p>"<em>We're orange-red fire!" Nora had exclaimed excitedly as her and her genius doctor lay wrapped in each other discussing fire. Peggy Lee had entered the radio waves and Nora had huskily sung 'what a lovely way to burn'. Spencer had spouted some statistics about fire and related deaths before Nora had interrupted with her decision on what fire the pair was, "we're red hot." She answered his querying look.<em>

"_Technically blue is the hottest part of the flame. Shouldn't we be blue?"_

"_No. Blue is the colour of mourning, of deep depression in all sorts of cultures like Iranian and Chinese. Blue is death. If you see a light and its blue, do not walk towards it." She'd teased never quite knowing that blue flame would become synonymous to death between them. From then on she'd mention the blue flame when he left on an away case or got involved in a particularly brutal case at home. During those home cases their code words were blue flame saying that she shouldn't trust anybody who came near her door or go out._

_It was their one rule that they always agreed on. That and statistics were kept out of the bedroom whilst they were both preoccupied._

_Always stay away from the blue light of the flame._

* * *

><p>"Oh sweetheart." Garcia sighed putting a comforting arm around the small woman's shoulders as tears pushed their way from her green eyes. All three of the BAU women glared at Morgan for bringing it up and the man backed away in a hurry, sitting with the other men who were busy being stoic in the corner. As Emily awkwardly stroked her arm in a comforting manner she wondered why Reid had never mentioned having a girlfriend whom he was clearly so close to aside from the obvious reason of Morgan's teasing. Reid never handled teasing well. As if on cue Nora began to speak, desperate to take the quake from her voice.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>I've been invited out to a club with some of the BAU members." His voice was a few octaves higher than it normal as he stood all gangly and nervous in the doorframe of her apartment's living room. Peering up from the book she was attempting to bind, glasses perched on the end of her nose, Nora glanced up quickly, not even realising he'd come in.<em>

"_Okay?" Was all she replied with. She knew that her attending one of these was a bit of a faux pas on her side and, although she really wanted to know why, she didn't press the matter. Why he was telling her this before he was due to go out was beyond her though. It was like he was spreading salt on the wounds. The reason for his sudden visit became clear though when he loped across the small apartment in about four steps and grabbed her hands._

"_It's not that I don't want you to come." He paused trying to gather his thoughts. Nora sat in an ambivalent silence knowing from experience that interrupting him would be detriment to the cause, "it's just that if I introduce you to them you'll be in the BAU social system. And it's like a danger magnet this system. I mean that all of the relationships started because of something terrible. Garcia had to get shot to meet Kevin and JJ met Will because a serial killer was in New Orleans. Hotch's wife Hayley was killed because Foyet knew about her from the BAU. I just… I want you to be the one thing no one else can touch." Finally, after much rambling and stammering making Nora fall even more in love with her genius he fell silent, keeping his nervous gaze firmly on her floor. Nora slowly detached her hands from his although he tried to keep an iron grip. Then she turned his blushing face to his with her two hands at the sides of his face._

"_I understand. This is just your way of protecting me."_

* * *

><p>Nora was enveloped in another hug but this time from JJ who knew exactly what Reid was feeling. One of her biggest fears was that what happened to Hotch and Hayley might eventually happen to her, Will and Henry. That they would both become targets of an Unsub. She wasn't like Hotch. She wouldn't be able to handle that as well as he did. And neither would Reid apparently.<p>

All of them at in silence, each of them touching Nora in a comforting way, only to be almost thrown out of the way the moment a doctor called Nora's name. She raced up to the man, grabbing him roughly the white sleeves of the coat and demanded,

"How is he?"


	2. Tulip

_Well I was very excited to wake up one sunny morning and find I had reviews!  
>Very excited indeed!<br>But this is the last chapter, although I am toying with the idea of expanding it. I just need a storyline that involves a case. And unfortunately I'm not as clever as the CM writers!  
>Speaking of which, <strong>disclaimer<strong>; I do not own Criminal Minds or anything associated with it. I just wish I owned Reid. Or one of his maps. MapsxReid is my OTP in the end!_

_But I'd like to thank;  
><strong>lolyncut<strong> (whose name I keep misreading and I mildly horrify myself! haha)  
><strong>PinkBell<br>Wondering Soul  
><strong>and some random anon! Thank you anon!_

_But anyway, thoughts on expansion if it pleases the court!_

* * *

><p>Nora Jackson slept fitfully on the chair by Reid's bedside. Her head was perched precariously on the edge of the bed whilst her hand squeezed Reid's rightly as if doing so would wake him up, all healthy and new again. The doctor's had told her that the surgery had been a success but that the next 24 hours were critical. She had stoically refused to cry, pacing for almost three hours until finally she couldn't take it anymore. She had to see him. She hadn't wanted to; seeing him lie deathly still with tubes feeding through him brought a lump to her throat. The first thing she'd said when she'd burst through the door, interrupting the federal agents who were standing nonplussed over their friend, apart from entreating him to look way from the blue flame, was, "did you know that the lump in your throat is you trying to supress your body's instinct to increase oxygen flow?" She'd grabbed his hands, squeezed it tight and let her tears drown it as she'd stuttered out the fact, "you told me that you remember?" A weepy giggle bubbled from her lips, "you were trying to help me stop crying. Badly I might add." And then she'd taken in his passive face. And simply given up.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Spencer had come home from an away case one night, the first one since they began dating, immediately going over to Nora's apartment knowing that she'd be awake, only to find her sobbing on the floor surrounded by chocolate and tissues. With a runny nose and wracking shoulders she launched herself at him, ecstatic that he was alright.<em>

"_What's wrong? Of course I'm alright." The poor man was astounded as he'd never seen her cry before. He'd seen her misty eyed, maybe a little teary at a movie, but never full out sobbing in to his shoulder and getting his sweater vest all wet and patchy. It had taken a while for her to finally speak,_

"_I saw that Agent Jareau say there'd been another murder and the way she described him..."_

_Reid immediately understood why the need for this sudden panic. The latest victim of the Unsub before she'd been caught had looked a lot like him. Skinny, nerdy guy; easy prey to a beautiful woman with a homicidal grudge to bear. Reid himself had had a lucky escape, only escaping because he wouldn't immediately sleep with her and the fact that all he could think about was Nora. The situation of him being hit on by a beautiful woman instead of Morgan, especially when he was standing right there, had turned from flattering in to downright uncomfortable._

"_Why didn't you call me if you were this worried?" He stroked her hair whilst the sobbing slowly began to cease._

"_Well I didn't know if I could... you're on the job?" She pulled back, blushing at her mistake and feeling a little uncertain. Awkwardly she attempted to brush away the wet patches she'd made on his shirt and sweater vest._

"_If you're ever feeling worried then, you can call me. Hey, did you know that the lump in our throat when we cry..."_

* * *

><p>The woman was inconsolable even when all the BAU agents had tried to comfort her, take her away from Reid or try and make her go to sleep. She hadn't slept a wink since Reid had gone into surgery thirty one hours ago. Finally they couldn't help her and just let her cry herself to sleep at her boyfriend's bedside. And there she stayed until a few hours later when Morgan, who had briefly popped out, returned with a bouquet of flowers, clearly from the hospital gift shop. Nora raised her sleepy, red raw eyes which immediately widened when he brought in the flowers.<p>

"No, no." She whispered, staring at the flowers like they were the epitome of all evil. Everyone could see she was itching to take the flowers out of the room for some reason but she refused to leave Reid's side, "not lilies." Lilies reminded them both of death, something Reid saw on a daily basis and just didn't need them to be the flower to wake up to. Both of them knew the language of flowers. It had been the one thing Nora had been able to teach Reid that he didn't already know. The white lilies that Morgan had brought in mean purity but that image had become distorted with the use of them in funerals, "please could you bring in some tulips?" There was another one of those soft smiles as she turns back to Reid's unconscious form, "we love tulips."

* * *

><p><em>Reid and Nora sat on a bench, licking ice cream, with Reid's arm casually draped over the back of the bench, as they stared at the tulip fields. They were in the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. It was April so the gardens were alive with the colour of all the multi-coloured tulips, daffodils, cherry blossoms and roses. Luckily they'd come on one of the sunniest days of April so the rain didn't make Nora's hair curl and attempt to become an afro like it usually did. It was their six month anniversary and it was here that Nora had finally been able to talk to Reid as animatedly about something he didn't know as he usually did with her. Her grandmother had loved flowers and passed down her wisdom to the granddaughter who'd wanted to know everything,<em>

"_In Japan, there's a story about a particular cherry blossom of the Iyo district." Nora had announced as they'd stood in a comfortable silence underneath one of the beautiful trees. Reid had no information to give her for once, "there was a Samurai who lived for many years in a village where a cherry blossom never died. But when the Samurai began to die so did the blossom. Everyone lamented so the Samurai decided to do the honourable thing to make the villagers die. He sat under the tree and committed the ritual suicide of Seppuku. The nutrients from his body fed the tree which grew blossoms again an hour after the Samurai's death. It's said to still be alive even now. Cherry blossoms represent a fallen Samurai and became Kamikaze pilots." Reid had stood, enthralled by the enthusiasm of Nora's voice. The language of flowers had never interested him but the sheer excitement in Nora's eyes had him wanting to learn more. He wondered if this was how she felt whenever he started blathering on when everyone else clearly only felt boredom, "in China of course it's different. It means love, female beauty, sexuality and dominance." _

_And with that they'd continued with Reid asking about various other flowers, encouraging more stories like the Japanese ones. When finally they got to the tulips, got ice creams and sat themselves down, Reid pleased to note that Nora had a massive smile on her face._

"_There are so many tulips here! And all of the colours have different meanings. Yellow means 'there's sunshine in your smile' or 'hopeless love', multi-coloured ones mean 'you have beautiful eyes' and red means 'believe me' or it's just a general declaration of love."_

"_So if I were to give you some tulips I'd have to be pretty careful in which colour I picked?" He asked almost nonchalantly but there was a certain catch in his voice and the way he kept his eyes trained at the horizon and away from her made her think something was up. So she'd given a non-committal shrug and waited like told as he ran away with his gangly awkward run. About fifteen minutes later her ice cream had been completely demolished. Long fingers suddenly wrapped themselves around her eyes. She recognised them instantly from the old book and map smell. And then a smell of flowers… of tulips. When she was allowed to open her eyes a bunch of tulips, all of the colours she'd pointed out, was hovering in front of her face, "oh Reid! Which one do you mean?"_

"_All of them?" His voice had shot to about two octaves higher, a sure sign he was nervous. Nora beamed back at him and merely picked out a red tulip and handed it over, knowing that that was all that was needed._

"_Hey! You said you needed them for the FBI!" A gruff, annoyed voice came out from nowhere._

"_We've got to go."_

* * *

><p>There was simultaneous groaning and cooing from the separate genders of Reid's friends. All the girls had oohed and awed in the appropriate places. The men had groaned although all were secretly impressed that their awkward Spencer Reid actually had, dare they say it, <em>swag.<em> He could be smooth if he wanted to be. Nora giggled at Morgan's half-disgusted, half-impressed face.

Suddenly Reid's hand twitched. He let out a quiet groan before his eyelids fluttered. Then he simply drifted off in to sleep; no longer unconscious, just asleep. Nora didn't say anything but heaved the biggest sigh of relief with an almost over exaggerated heave of her shoulders. Everyone who had been secretly holding their breaths let them all out as a collective exhale.

Reid was back with them.

"I call party at Nora's apartment when this is all over." Garcia announced happily, a massive weight lifted off everyone's shoulders.

And Nora was finally with them too.


	3. Grapes

_The finale I've decided!  
>I may open it up again if I get further inspiration. Or just make a sequel or something! haha<br>But thank yous of course!_

_To all of the people who put this on **Alert** or **Favourites** and all of that :)_

_And to these reviewers!  
><strong>Sue1313<strong> - who went back and reviewed the other chapter :)  
><strong>Circakona<strong> - who very sweetly offered up a very good idea if I were to continue!  
>And<br>**Wondering Soul** - how you like the final chapter :)_

_Only one flashback! Isn't that exciting? haha  
><em>

* * *

><p>Three days later Reid was sitting upright trying to reach the grapes that lay just out of reach at the end of his bed. Nora, who was sitting on the other side of the room, giggled at all of his feeble attempts. There were flowers dotted around the room from the BAU, other FBI agents, Bennington Sanatorium, from some of his fans and even from Gideon his old mentor. However it was only Nora's tulips that stood in pride of place on his bedside cabinet, "come on Nora I just want some grapes." He whined slightly. He was able to sit upright but he couldn't do copious amounts of movements so he deemed that leaning forward for grapes too stressful.<p>

"Morgan's just getting some jello for you though." Her gaze never left the German book she was reading. A nurse had advised her not to be near Reid after she'd returned from a shower as the last time that had happened she'd made a reference to the last time they'd taken a shower together which had played merry hell with Reid's heart monitor.

"Please?" And he whipped out that puppy dog gaze of his. Rossi, casually creeping in the doorway, quirked his eyebrows upon seeing Reid playfully manipulate his girlfriend. Rossi, looking down at this full coffee from the canteen and deciding it wasn't what he wanted, left to give the couple some more privacy. Nora chuckled, put down her book and went over to his bed. His face contorted in to that innocent smirk with those smacked lips.

"Move over than lover." He did as ordered and she duly clambered up in to the bed with him, placing the grapes on his lap. He could feed himself after all; she wasn't _that_ easy to manipulate. Wordlessly the couple seemed to melt in to each other, like this was how they'd sit all the time, like they'd been doing it for many years. When they weren't arguing with each other, it usually was how they sat. It was like they each had a void that only the other could fill. They sat like that watching movies in each other's apartments or when they read books or even when they played chess. Reid always won needless to say. Even when they were arguing they couldn't stay away from each other for long.

* * *

><p><em>The dog in the downstairs flat was barking in response to the raised voices of Nora and Reid as they battled it out in one of their first arguments. Well Nora's voice was raised; Reid's was just getting creative with the pitch.<em>

"_I come over and there's __**Lila Archer**__ lounging away as if she owns the flat and you expect me to believe __**nothing**__ happened?" Nora angrily paced back and forth around the living room a good few minutes after the actress in question, who was pretty well known by now, had left. She flung her arms around as she spoke narrowly missing Reid's many bookcases and even some of his doctorates. He wisely didn't mention anything from his nervous vigil on couch though. Finally he managed to stammer out, _

"_Well… yes actually. Because nothing did happen. Although a couple of years back…" It had been unwise to continue on with that train of thought._

"_So you've dated?"_

"_I wouldn't say dated so much as kissed in her pool…"_

"_And now she wants you!" This was a statement more than a question as, when Nora had arrived, Reid had been making coffee in the kitchen and Lila had been wandering around the apartment wearing nothing but wet hair, a long t-shirt and a smile. Naturally Nora had been furious but politely remained tight lipped. As soon as Reid had seen her, kissed her in welcome and introduced her as his girlfriend, Lila made the speediest of exits, fully clothed and pleading excuses. The man was dumbfounded when Nora exploded. Apparently Lila needed the shower as her hotel's water had 'broken', "well don't let me stop you! Go for it! She's gorgeous and clearly wants you."_

"_You know I don't judge by looks-" Before the poor man even had a chance to add on the word 'alone' Nora took it completely the wrong way and stormed out of apartment. Both of them hadn't slept that night, staring at the phone, pacing and waiting. Finally at two in the morning Reid turned up at Nora's door, soaked to the skin from the storm he'd walked in to get there apologising profusely. He should've told her, should've done this or should've done that. But Nora didn't particularly care, had lost all of her anger seeing him outside her door like a drowned rat. She apologised for over-reacting and just like that they melted together again._

* * *

><p>All of the BAU members, with the added extra of Will and Henry, finally found themselves in the same room as Nora and Reid, with them finally together. Over the past three days all of them had somehow found ways of not being in the same room together, so it looked like they'd never met before. When Reid finally came round the others had been on some local case. When they finally traipsed in after all of the paperwork had been completed Nora had been sent home collecting more things to stay longer in the hospital. But now they were all in the same room, having walked in on the couple looking cosy with Nora reading and Reid happily eating some grapes, one arm on Nora's knee. He finally made the nervous attempt of introducing her as his girlfriend eating the jello Morgan had brought him.<p>

"We've already met her kid." Morgan grinned although he automatically shook her hand.

"So we have! We've already been planning your welcome home party at Nora's when you finally get out." Garcia grinned her Cheshire cat smile and Reid shivered comically, worried as to what plan they'd all roped Nora in to.

"Yup, and I got all of your stuff from your house so that you can move in to hers for the month. It's just bigger and you'll have more space." Prentiss butted in, eager to have her say too. Between them all they'd arranged for Reid to have a full recovery, looked after by everyone. They'd even organised meeting times around his medication, if a case didn't come up of course. Nora had hired a friend to take over the shop for some of the month. Everything had been arranged when the poor genius had been unconscious, Nora becoming better acquainted with all of them in the process, her and Garcia most of all. They could all see how close her and Reid were and how much she loved him.

"Sorry I haven't introduced you before. I just-"

"Wanted her all for yourself. We understand." Surprisingly it was Hotch who said this and they all turned to him with raised eyebrows apart from Nora. She just looked a little confused at their surprise, "I can be understanding you know." Hotch joked causing another wave of surprised blinking, "and joke. Well it's good to see that you're better Reid. We'll see you at work in a month. Now I've got to get back to Jack." And with a brusque nod he turned on his heel and left. _That_ was more like the Aaron Hotchner they all knew. With excited grins all of them turned back to Nora and Garcia who were busy discussing the welcome back party.

It was an odd group they all made but somehow it seemed to work out okay in the end.


End file.
